HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW

1. Legislator files a bill and a petition together with the clerk of the House or the Senate. It is assigned a bill number and referred to the appropriate standing or joint committee.

2. The committee then holds public hearings, then an executive session (the public may be present at this session but may not participate.)

3. The committee will make a recommendation that will be attached to the bill as it moves to the Floor of the sponsoring Chamber.

4. The clerk will then read the bill's title (also known as the First Reading) and put the bill on the calendar for debate. If it was voted on favorably by the committee and the bill involves spending state funds, it will then be sent to Ways & Means.

5. Ways & Means may hold its own hearing, make amendments or combine it with similar bills. After the committee votes whether to recommend the bill, it is then sent back to the Floor of the sponsoring Chamber for the Second Reading.

6. On a scheduled date the floor is then opened for debate, amendments and a vote. If passed, the bill is sent to the Committee on Bills in the Third Reading, where it will be checked for accuracy, consistency and constitutionality; any necessary corrective or technical language changes will be made.

7. The bill is then sent back to the Floor for more debate or amendments. If there are no changes, a vote will be taken for the bill to be engrossed. If passed to be engrossed the bill is sent to the other chamber.

8. The other chamber will go through the same process, if it passed with no changes it is sent to the Engrossing Division to be printed on special parchment. The chambers will make a final enactment vote and if passed will be sent to the Governor for signing.

9. However, if the other chamber made changes to the bill, it must then go back to the originating chamber for a vote. If difference still exist, they will be resolved in a conference committee including three members from each chamber. Conference committee reports are accepted or rejected in whole. The bill must then be passed without amendment in both the House and the Senate.

10. The bill is then sent to the Engrossing Division and back to the chambers for enactment votes. If passed, it is sent to the Governor.

11. The Governor then has ten days to either sign, veto or send the bill back with amendments. Or they can allow it to become law after ten days without their signature.

12. If a bill is sent back with amendments, it must be approved by a majority of both branches. The veto can be overridden by a two-thirds majority vote.

13. When a bill finally becomes a law, it takes effect in 90 days or immediately if an emergency preamble was included.